Operation Back Yard Part 4

We love West Texas. We do. Great people, all the amenities you could ask for, big blue sky, and football. 

What we do not love about our beloved W.Tex is the sun and heat. Hence, the pergola. The sun sets in the West, giving us breathtaking sunsets.

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However, when entertaining in our new back yard, sun is the enemy. Direct sun = heat. Lots of heat. Sometimes up to 20* difference between sun and shade. 

Solution? Outdoor curtains!

Step 1: Plan, plan, plan.
I definitely wanted curtains on both the East and West side of the pergola (2 panels each). I also wanted some smaller panels on the South side (2 panels). So, a total of 6 panels is what I decided on.

Can I BuyIY (BuyItYourself)?
Quick answer? Nope.

Sunbrella curtains from Ballard Designs cost about $100 per 84" panel. At six panels, we're talking $600 on a good day, $650 with tax, and over $700 with fixtures. Ew. I wanted curtains but not that badly. Also, they come in a couple of shades and are one sided (there's a right and wrong side) which is not very practical for curtains if you want to stand in the yard and see them.

There are a few cheaper options, but they're still nowhere near practical for me. Pottery Barn has drapes on clearance now for $41 per panel. That would be $260 with tax and over $300 with fixtures. Half price, but still too rich for my blood.

So...DIY it is. 

Pinterest and google are great. I found some awesome inspiration pictures like these:

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There's a great tutorial over at Everyday Expressions for the above DIY outdoor curtains that gives good information, too.

I decided to go with burlap. It's a material that will weather fairly naturally. It comes in a variety of neutral colors, and those colors will hide our beloved red dirt/dust nicely. Also, it's pretty inexpensive.


Step 2: Gather your materials.
22 yards of burlap x $3.99 at HobLob - 50% off coupon = $47.51

3 Threads x 2.79 - 40% = $5.43

4 pkg X-Lg Eyelets x 9.99 - 50% = $21.63

Washers = 10.00?

Total of  $84.57

Yup, I'll take it.


Step 3: Measure a billion times, cut once.
I have a separate post talking about the methods of cutting and squaring burlap here.

The dimensions for each panel I made were slightly different because of the slope of our concrete patio. For a custom look, I measured each hem separately.

The South panels were the easiest. One panel width was 48" (stock width of burlap). So all I had to do was hem the top and bottom.

The East and West panels were a little more difficult. I patched them to create a wider panel. Each panel ended up being 72" (48" + 24"). To seam them, I sewed using a zig zag stitch with the zig on one piece and the zag on another. I'm no seamstress, so please don't judge my homely sewing!

Step 4: Get your hardware.

Instead of traditional large curtain grommets, I went with smaller "Extra Large Eyelets" which were about 1" diameter. They felt sturdier to me. Just a personal preference.

To hang the curtains on the pergola, we used your basic cup hooks just like these:

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Like I've mentioned before, W.Tex is pretty windy. To keep the curtains from blowing around, we added washers in pockets in the bottom hem.

To keep the curtains contained when they're not needed for shade, we created some basic sashes to tie up the curtains. The fabric for these was about $10 with a 40% off coupon from HobLob.

Step 5: EN-Joy!
And.....here is the finished product!

We love it!

I wouldn't take on a project this big every month, but I think if these last us a couple of years it'll be well worth it! We're not leaving them outdoors when we're not using them to try to extend their life. They  block a ton of sun (and wind) when they're up. Perfect for the W.Tex sun!

Operation Back Yard Part 3

Houston, we have furniture!

Because we would like to actually sit and enjoy our new back yard we thought we'd get some new furniture. Also, because the furniture we did have looks like this:

Taupe? Ew, no.   Plastic? Erm...no.   Adirondack/Modern Mix? No thanks.

We found our furniture at....Wally World! After looking around at pretty much every store we could think of that sold patio furniture, we were a little taken aback at the prices. I mean, DIY-family over here. $500+ for furniture? That's almost how much we spent on wood for the pergola that will last for years. 

Solution? Cheap furniture that doesn't look too cheap. Enter Mainstays Crossman furniture. A whopping $148.00. Much better. With a few outdoor pillows from the Big Orange to complete the look, we're ready to roll. 

I love it! 

Not quite as fancy as the fancy furniture, but much easier to swallow price-wise. We went with some coordinating pillows with teal, sage, chocolate, and gold. 

Operation Back Yard Part 2

Next up in Operation Back Yard was a patio. We discussed multiple options including ground-level decking, brick pavers, concrete pavers, natural stone, and concrete.

{all images found via Google Images}

After evaluating our options based on price, availability, durability, and customization we determined that concrete was our best option. It can be stained to fit any design, is durable when cured, and is easy to clean and maintain.

We contacted a co-worker of mine who does concrete work as a side-job. He gave us an estimate and talked with us at length about what the plan for our patio was.


On a side note, did you know that cement and concrete are different? Well, you probably did, but I didn't. According to all-knowing Wikipedia:

Concrete should not be confused with cement, because the term cement refers to the material used to bind the aggregate materials of concrete. Concrete is a combination of a cement and aggregate.

Now that that's settled...


Our original patio was about 4'x8' and about 8" deep with two sets of rebar and mesh. That wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, so we decided to raise the patio and pour over it.

We wanted to extend the concrete out to encompass the shaded area from the pergola and provide extra strength to the Oz Posts. Also, when it rains out here in West Texas it pours, so a sidewalk to our back fence was a must-have for rainy-day trash runs and alley access.

Our final pour dimensions were 15'x15' with a sidewalk of 3'x5' that flared at the end to accommodate our 4' gate at a depth of 4-6" with a slight slant away from the house.

West Texas has (up until the past couple of days) been in the 2nd worst drought ever. So, we opted to add a moisture barrier under the concrete. This was for two reasons: 1- Keep the dry ground from sucking all the moisture from the concrete as it cures (more on that later) and 2-Keep the concrete from absorbing moisture from the ground when it finally rains.

We also decided to add rebar, even though it's not necessary for a patio. This will add extra strength to the patio and keep it from "floating" if it cracks.

Our friend did a wonderful job on the concrete. It has a "broom" texture, which we'll tone down as we stain the concrete. 

Travis (as a scientific-minded mechanical engineer who works to figure out how things fail for a living) did some research on curing concrete. "Wet curing" seems to be the most preferred way to extend the curing process so that the ultimate strength of the material can develop. This basically means that the slower it dries, the more uniform the dried concrete, the stronger the material. 

This is actually a pretty easy (although time-consuming) process. Cheap plastic moisture block tarp ($10) + garden hose = happy engineer. You can see all the fancy testing that was done by Purdue University materials testing here that proves compression strength improves with "wet curing" here. You can find out about how to "wet cure" your concrete here and here.

And here is the final product!

Next up is furniture!

 

Operation Back Yard Part 1

Out here in West Texas there is sun. Lots and lots of sun. There is also heat. Lots and lots of heat. There are, however, very few trees. 

In our back yard, there was basically no shade. Zip. Zero. None. As a matter of fact, there was basically nothing in our back yard at all other than a fire pit, a grill, and an ugly fence. Apparently, we decided it would be better to add to the heat with fire than add shade.

In the shade the heat of West Texas is somewhat near bearable. Solution? Pergola. 

We forgot to take multiple pictures of the hideous back yard. Trust me. It was bad. So here's a picture of just before we started.

We used Oz Posts instead of digging holes and using concrete. They're nifty spikes that are about 3' long that you drive into the ground with a sledge hammer. Much less mess. 

We opted for treated wood over cedar for two reasons: 1-Cost. Treated=Cheaper, more readily available and 2-Look. I prefer the cleaner lines of treated to the rustic lines of cedar. Travis and his dad routed all of the edges of the wood we used for a more finished look. They said that was the most time-consuming part of the whole process (it also left a ton of sawdust in the garage).

The finished size post-to-post of the pergola was 10x14 with a finished span (with overhang) of about 15x15. 

We used 4x6's as posts for our base. Our headers were sandwiched on the posts and were from 2x8's. The runners were from 2x6's.

The top lattice design was made by alternating 2x4's and 2x2's. This layered on top of the runners makes for a pretty nice amount of shade.

 

To make the pergola look more intentional, we tapered the boards up to about 2 inches from the roof line. This helped us avoid any building permits and the hassle of attaching it to the house but still have the built-in look.

All done! This is the view from the back door looking out under the pergola. There's that ugly zombie fence I was talking about.

And a Red Raider ready for some football-watching parties!

Here's the finished pergola from the back corner of our yard. Note the green grass where our neighbor's sprinkler system broke and flooded. Also note the dead grass (record low rainfall + record high heat + lazy homeowners = dead grass). 

We will be cutting the top posts to about 1/3 of the size they are now once our concrete work is done and the wood dries out a little more. We'll finish them with a small routed edge and maybe a decorative cap.

Much more to come! 

Concrete! Furniture! Accessories! Curtains! Football season!

 

Chocolate and Counting

So, aside from crafting another hobby of mine is eating. I <3 food. Unfortunately...my hips also <3 food. I've tried a number of diets including low-fat, low-calorie, low-taste, low-carb, etc. Always lose weight...always gain it back. 

Then I tried weight watchers (bt-dubs they're totally not paying me to say this). It's not for everyone, but if you're struggling with portion control and love food as much as me, it may just work for you. I know how to eat "good," but I love food so dang much that I eat as like a horse. Enter weight watchers. You can have whatever (almost) you want in smaller portions. Perfect!

I'm not a militant point-counter by any means, but weight watchers has taught me to pay attention to what I'm eating and compensate for it. It teaches a new way to eat and helps get rid of nasty habits (like value-sizing that sweet tea at Chick-fil-A) while encouraging good ones (like water).

My key to success is treats. Like you may have heard, I <3 food. I also love chocolate. Lots and lots of darker-the-better chocolate. Naturally, lots and lots of darker-the-better chocolate is point-full. I've always been on a search to find a delicious and satisfying chocolate dessert. 

GOOD NEWS: I found it! 3 points will get you dark chocolate chips, chocolate ice cream, and a fudge swirl DIPPED in milk chocolate.

Holy Moly Roly Poly.

Let's review. 3 points = (dark chocolate + chocolate ice cream + fudge swirl) + milk chocolate coating = Breyer's Smooth & Dreamy Triple Chocolate Chip Bar.

You're welcome in advance.

Although these ice cream bars are delicious (and I will accept any free offers of these products) I'm not being paid in money or ice cream to gush over them at all. 

Funfetti, Family, and the Fourth

Happy Fourth of July! 

We were so glad that Travis's parents were able to join us for this holiday weekend. His dad came up and helped Travis build a pergola for our back patio/yard. It's beautiful! More on that to come later...

Travis's mom bought me some new silicone cupcake liners from World Market to try. I've never tried them myself, and I've heard mixed reviews so I was pretty interested in seeing how they worked. The reviews I found were all over the place - people either loved 'em or hated 'em.

At our grocery store, some patriotic sprinkles were on sale. I picked up a french vanilla cake mix (scandalous! - but I don't enjoy baking much from scratch...). Time for some DIY-funfetti!

DIY "Funfetti" Cupcakes

   After mixing the batter (box instructions), mix in about 3-4 tablespoons of sprinkles. Most "recipes" for DIY-funfetti use about 2 tablespoons, but add more for a bit more color.
   Place the silicone liners on a cookie sheet (no muffin pan needed). Grease if desired.
   Using a cookie scoop (similar to this one), spoon an equal amount into each liner. Using a cookie scoop assures that an equal amount of batter is poured into each liner so the cupcakes will be the same size. Bake according to package directions, adding about 5-8 minutes when using the silicone liners.
   Let the cupcakes cool slightly until they can be handled. Then, slowly work the silicone liner away from the cupcake. Flip them upside down and tap lightly on the bottom. The cupcakes should pop right out!
   Let them cool on a rack, and then they can be put back into the liners to serve and ice. Enjoy!

Based on the reviews I read I thought it might be good to try some experiments. 

Myth 1: The cupcakes stick!

Some people swore they didn't do anything to the liner while others said they greased the liners. I decided to try half and half. In the picture below the six cupcakes on the left were greased with a floured cooking spray while the six on the right were put straight into the liners without greasing. 

The only weird thing I noticed about the cupcakes in the ungreased liners was that half of them overflowed. I'm sure it had something to do with the liners or user error, but none of the others did it.

In the picture below, the left/center liner was greased and the right one was ungreased. You can see the extra bits of cupcake left on the bottom and sides of the ungreased liner.

I also think under-cooking can contribute to the cupcakes sticking to the liners. Remember to add 5-8 minutes to your bake time when using these. Letting the cupcakes cool slightly but not all the way can make them easier to release, too. 

Myth 2: The cupcakes are impossible to eat out of the liners. 

People said cupcakes were popping out and flying everywhere. I tried taking the cupcakes out to cool and then putting them back into the liners to serve. This allowed everyone to pull the cupcakes out of the liners completely without breaking them.

The cupcakes in the greased liners came out beautifully. The ones in the ungreased liners came out with a bit more manipulation, but were still intact. 

Myth 3: The silicone cupcake liners are difficult to clean. 

I had no problem cleaning these, even the ones that dried out. All I did was flip them inside out and use a dish brush and soap to wash. 

Hope you have a great Fourth of July!